Off Topic The "Discuss Anything Else" Thread

These small beasties that emerge from the dark at the last moment won't destroy Earth Ron. From what I've just read, a small meteor traveling at 60-70 thousand kph exploded in the atmosphere over Russia in 2013. It exploded at a height of just under a 100,000 feet over a place called Chelyabinsk Oblast. From what I can find, the residents of the area were extremely lucky to get off as lightly as they did. 1,491 people sought medical care with 112 hospitalised, leaving 2 in serious condition. If it had been a ground impact instead of the air blast, the death toll would have been terrible. It's estimated that the energy released was somewhere between 26 to 33 times the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

The USA in conjunction with Russia, China, Germany, France and Israel are working on the defence of the planet from space threats. They plan to try and deflect a non threatening, 150m diameter asteroid in 2022. So there are people working on the problem.

 

This Sheikh Mohammed/Princess Haya business is going to get really naughty. Political football of Premier League standard.
Can I get odds on her mysteriously returning to the Emirates and not be seen again but said to be happy to be home under the protection of her husband from dark and evil forces?

 

There's a bolthole for Princess Haya up here in 'Auld Reekie'!

 

Hiding out in South Kensington I read somewhere and fearing for her life. Sheikh Mohammed has 23 children from at least 6 wives. That's one for every day of the week nearly!

Plenty of people involved in flat racing like Sheikh Mohammed. Let's be honest different moral compass to most of us in this country.

 

Dramatic moment British fighter jets intercept Russian military transport plane as it passes close to Estonian air space

 

Gay marriage cake: customer takes case to European court

Reasons to get away from the European Courts mounting up with each passing day...

This guy alleges that he is pursuing his lost cause because “This is about limited companies being somehow able to pick and choose which customers they will serve. It’s such a dangerous precedent.” I hope he is picking up the legal bill.

Utter rubbish. If I go in the pub tonight and they refuse to sell me beer, they are perfectly within their rights to refuse to serve me or anyone else without having to assign a reason. If it does not bother them that they are losing trade in so acting, there is no law against making that decision, even if that eventually leads to them going out of business.

 

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The Death of the Japanese Navy. April 7, 1945. At 14:23 Yamato capsized after taking at least 11 torpedoes and 6 bomb hits. Her 46 cm turrets fell off, and as she rolled suction was created that drew swimming crewmen back toward the ship. When the roll reached approximately 120º, one of the 2 bow magazines detonated in a tremendous explosion. The resulting mushroom cloud (seen above)-over 3.7 miles high was seen 100 miles away on Kyūshū (the southernmost island of the Home Islands). The ship sank rapidly taking an estimated 3,055 of her 3,332 crew, including fleet commander Vice-Admiral Seiichi Itō. The few survivors were picked up by the 4 surviving destroyers (one of them was Yukikaze), which withdrew to Japan.

 

I have some important things to tell transgender kids – today, right now, you’re perfect - First Dog on the Moon

I expect that the complaints are flooding in to the Garuniad about “Ken the Hen Gender Ambiguity Chicken”. Surely the PC brigade cannot have cartoonists using words like queerness (not a place in Kent). This will get right up their cloaca.

The future is non-binary!

 

As The Donald and his team have brought up the subject of buying Greenland. I'd like to kick off the proceedings with a $10 bid.

Never let it be said that I can't recognise a good deal when I see it.

 

Buying f**k all green!

 

I am sure that some of us have heard about how hydrogen powered transport would be fantastic for the planet, if perhaps a little bit risky and hydrogen tends to be a bit explosive. If you use hydrogen to generate power, the by-product that results is water, no greenhouse gases or dodgy emissions are produced. There are some trains somewhere in Europe that run on hydrogen.

Normally hydrogen is extracted from natural gas but this is a problem because that releases loads of methane and carbon dioxide that would then have to be stored somewhere or it is kind of defeating the green intent.

So what if somebody claimed they had found a way to extract hydrogen from oil without any pollution?

Step forward the Canadians – specifically Proton Technologies – who attended a geochemistry conference in Barcelona and reckoned they could do it and produce Canada’s entire electricity requirement for the next 330 years from domestic oil. The cynical pessimist in me is waiting to actually see if this is commercially viable...

 

A Giant Volcano Could End Human Life on Earth as We Know It

More chance of that happening than of me winning the Lottery. Well that's cheered me up

 

You thought Fox News was bad and that most Americans cannot point out foreign countries on a map...

Russia Today puts Japan on the map, where New Zealand should be​

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QM,
Maybe you can answer this one. I spend a lot of time in Africa and in my bank account here i get 10.5% interest on a deposit of £50k. What i wonder is why the hell are loads of people in uk/europe not taking advantage of this?
Obviously you need to be a resident but thats not difficult if you can be bothered to do it.
Why are financial pros not doing it for their clients?

 

These banks have been operating plenty of years though Oddy. It must be perceived security though I agree.

 

Can anyone explain this one?

Flexitarian n.,

A vegetarian who sometimes eats fish and meat.​

Is that not everyone except vegetarians and vegans? Oh, those Americans...
In the “vegetables that bleed” industry, I much prefer Frankenburger as the market rival to McDonald’s.

 

An interesting piece of film. I don't know quite why, but I enjoyed it. I loved the way she rode the swells as she docked.

The Camellia Maru docking at Miyakejima Miike Port in the Izu Islands of Japan in 2012. Built in 1985, the 3837 ton, 103m Camellia Maru is now known as the Kannon Maru is presently working in Indonesia.